RECYCLING AND RECOMPOUNDING | TECHNOLOGY


different departments with expertise in process engineering, mechanical engineering, automation and special technologies will be involved in developing solutions. The centre will also provide an opportunity to develop the company’s digital service offerings for customers, including custom- er-specific information tools that feature plant and process data, predictive maintenance and online support, as well as commissioning via remote access. An expanded machine park will be available for


material tests following the completion of the new centre where recycling processes can be evaluated from end-to-end including upstream and down- stream processes, such as shredding and further processing of recycled pellets. The material tests are supported by detailed analysis in the labora- tory, which will be relocated to the new facility and upgraded where necessary with the most current equipment. Erema also announced that it acquired a 19.8%


stake in Plasticpreneur, a two-year-old start-up company based in Klagenfurt, Austria that manu- factures recycling technologies that are designed to be used in regions with little recycling infrastruc- ture and can be operated without prior knowledge. The complete system not only recycles the materi- als but produces end-product solutions needed locally, says CEO and co-founder Sören Lex. Plasticpreneur’s product range includes a


shredder, injection moulding unit, extruder unit, as well as air filters and custom-designed and built moulds. The systems can process HDPE, PP, PS, LDPE, PLA, ABS and TPU. The company has sold 330 machines to customers in more than 70 countries on all continents. This includes sales to social enterprises and operators or refugee camps, where everyday consumer goods – from clothes


pegs and school supplies to toys and fence posts – are produced and sold using plastic waste, so the added value stays local. Coperion says fibre and flake recyclate with a bulk density under 200 kg/m3


(12.5 ft/ft3 ), long


considered intake-limited, not worth recycling and in some cases not even possible to recycle, can now be reliably fed in large quantities and high throughput rates with a new version of the com- pany’s ZS-B side feeder, to be introduced at K2022. The company’s new ZS-B MEGAfeed can deliver


a wide range of post-industrial and post-consumer waste materials such as PA, PE, PET and PP in fibre and flake form directly into its ZSK twin screw extruder for recycling and compounding at very high feed rates. Coperion said conventional feeding equipment handling PA fibres with a bulk density of 40-50 kg/ m3


can feed material at a rate of 70 kg/h. In


contrast, when the PA fibres were fed into the ZSK extruder using the ZS-B MEGAfeed throughput rates increased to 1,000 kg/hr. A similar increase in throughput is achieved when recycling carbon fibres, with throughputs of 2,500 kg/hr reached with the ZS-B MEGAfeed compared to 50 kg/hr with conventional feeders. When recycling post- consumer recycled flakes, throughputs increased to 700 kg/hr from 50 kg/hr, and feed rates for multilayer film flakes increased to 1,300 kg/hr with the ZS-B MEGAfeed compared to 80 kg/hr with conventional equipment. Coperion says the new feeder can supply PET


flakes and fibres directly into the ZSK twin screw extruder in large quantities, with no pre-drying or crystallising, where they can be processed profit- ably. In addition, the new feeder technology eliminates the upstream compacting, melting and agglomeration processes associated with mechani- cal upcycling, with the feeder delivering material directly to the ZS-K for melting, compounding,


www.plasticsrecyclingworld.com


Above: Erema showed its technology to journalists during a pre-K2022 press event at its Ansfelden HQ in Austria in June


Left:


Plasticpreneur manufactures recycling technologies that are


designed to be used in regions with little recycling infrastructure


October 2022 | PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD 41


IMAGE: PLASTICPRENEUR


IMAGE: EREMA


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